Hello @tomdavies, thanks for the update. I have a few comments:
Hereās my serious worry; the new Monzo Plus becomes a land-grab for a bunch of very useful features, all becoming stashed behind a paywall. Many many people in the old thread voiced the same concerns (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16)). While Iām thankful that you seem to have dropped any mention of āpremium supportā from this post, the fact that budgeting remains here is troubling.
Youāve asked people if they want better control over their finances in many of the questions:
- Customization (Ex. custom categoriesā¦)
- More visibility (Ex ability to connect credit cards)
- Features that help you manage your money better (weekly summary, ability to spend from pots)
- A Monzo account with improved money management featuresā¦
- A premium account that helps you budgetā¦
Well, guess what, of course people want better control of their finances! But that doesnāt mean that this should be behind a paywall, nor that those people really endorse having those features behind a paywall. They just want the features!
Not so long ago your CEO @anon91821566 wrote the following about the Monzo Mission
Finally, thereās āfor everyoneā. In part, this is about the scale of our ambition: the next generation of banks will serve a billion people. But itās also about inclusion and our social mission.
So right now weāre building the best bank account we possibly can. One that gives you instant control over your money, helps you budget better, and doesnāt hit you with unfair fees when you spend money abroad or exceed your overdraft limit.
And thatās something that should be available to everyone. Too many people struggle to get access to banking services because theyāve been in debt, or theyāve just arrived in the country, or theyāve had a tough time in life. We believe everyone should have the opportunity to take control of their financial life, without exorbitant fees or the stress of dealing with complex faceless systems.
To build a business that can achieve these goals, we need to turn a profit. But we wonāt take every chance to make money; we only want to benefit when our customers do too.
The fact is that better money management impacts the poorest the most. If you put proper budgeting tools, better financial management, and other related features behind a paywall, you violate the companyās own stated code of providing these to all Monzoās customers.
To put these features within Monzo Plus would feel to many like they were being hoarded, perhaps only to rescue a twice defeated product line, and directly against the tenets of the company mission. Please do not.